A discussion popped up recently in an editing group I follow about ellipses and whether they need spaces around them. The simplest advice I can give writers is to treat ellipses—whether you’re using the traditional spaced-periods version with nonbreaking spaces . . .) or the single Unicode character that Word often autocorrects to (U+2026 …)—as standing in for missing words. Because of that, they take a space before and after: like . . . this, or like … this.

At the end of a sentence, there’s no space between the final word and the ellipsis.

In traditional publishing, the Unicode character is usually replaced with a nonbreaking, thin-spaced ellipses. Indie authors who format their own books often prefer to keep the Unicode version, and I follow their lead when editing. I don’t think readers (outside of editor/readers!) notice the difference. Consistency is the most important thing.

The Chicago Manual of Style has the best guidance, and their Q&A section is open to everyone. Here’s a Q&A on ellipses in dialogue—please note you don’t need a trail of 10 dots ………. to show a character pausing in thought!

[https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/…/Quo…/faq0077.html]

*post is my own; image created in ChatGPT*